Assembly committee to scrutinise use of EU funding in Wales

29 January 2010 The National Assembly for Wales’s Enterprise and Learning Committee is beginning (25 Feb) an inquiry into the use of EU Structural Funds in Wales and wants to hear from people who have experience or knowledge of the funds.

The purpose of the committee’s inquiry is to examine a variety of issues surrounding the implementation of the funds, focusing on the 2007-13 programming period.

Wales’s economic status enables it to qualify for the funding and from 2007 to 2013, around £2billion of EU funding will be channelled into Wales; managed by an arm of the Welsh Government and aiming to create jobs and boost economic growth.

Areas of interest to the committee include; the progress of the funds to date – including targets and whether they’ve been achieved; the Welsh Government’s use of the funds in responding to the recession; the spread of funding across projects led by the public, private and not for profit sectors and the sustainability of projects post 2013.

Chair of the Enterprise and Learning Committee, Gareth Jones AM said: “The inquiry will be wide-ranging in its examination of the issues surrounding EU Structural Funds in Wales; from the application process to its overall progress to date.

“Structural Funds are aimed at creating as competitive and sustainable an economy as possible in Wales. The committee wants to ascertain how the funding is working to achieve this and wants to hear your views about this important subject matter.”

The committee would be interested to receive written evidence (no longer than 5 sides of A4) which should be submitted by 25 February.

Submissions can be emailed to the clerk of the committee enterprise.learning.comm@wales.gsi.gov.uk or can be posted to

Committee Clerk,
Enterprise and Learning Committee,
National Assembly for Wales,
Pierhead Street,
Cardiff, CF99 1NA.

Extra information

• Further information on EU Structural Funds and its managing body – the Welsh European Funding Office – can be found at www.wefo.wales.gov.uk.

• The Committee has agreed to examine the following issues as part of its inquiry:

• The application process

• Progress to date (e.g. outputs achieved against targets, actual expenditure to date) and a comparison with the 2000-06 programmes at the equivalent point

• The Welsh Government’s arrangements for project and programme evaluations

• The spread of funding across projects led by the public, private and the not-for-profit sectors

• The level of engagement in the private and not-for-profit sectors

• The sustainability of projects post-2013

• An analysis of the ultimate project beneficiaries (by geographic location and by sector, including business, people, community regeneration, the environment and transport)

• The use of procurement in project delivery

• The Welsh Government’s use of Structural Funds in responding to the recession

• The potential impact of tighter public sector budgets in the next few years

• Projects in the pipeline and the flow of projects. Areas of over- and under-subscription.

• The availability of match funding

• The impact of increased intervention rates announced in July 2009.